New movies to be released this week on DVD

TUESDAY

Mamma Mia (2008) ** Meryl Streep can do anything: sing, dance, do splits, act her heart out. She (almost) saves this clumsy, overwrought film version of the Abba musical that’s been running on stages from Broadway to Barcelona since 1999.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) * The kindest thing to be said for this frantic, cluttered mess of cheesy computer-generated action-adventure clichés is that at least you can see how the estimated $175 million budget was spent.

FRIDAY

The House Bunny (2008) **½ It’s funny. Dumb, yes, but funny.

Traitor (2008) **½ Brandishes physical verisimilitude and intelligent seriousness but proves unable to really get inside its chameleon-like central character.

SUNDAY

American Teen (2008) *** Even when it’s ripping off "Juno" and "The Hills," this film is fascinating in the way of every good documentary — the more time you spend with anyone, the more they surprise you.

Burn After Reading (2008) **½ The film has enough funny lines and weird situations — some comedy business with a sex chair lovingly constructed by the George Clooney character is the highlight — that it could age into a cult film like "The Big Lebowski."

Death Race (2008) *½ The best you can say about the movie is that it isn’t boring. It’s fast-paced, but it isn’t really well made.

Hamlet 2 (2008) **½ Attaining somewhat of a bad parody of a comedy, screenwriters Andrew Fleming and Pam Brady have slapped together a string of gags in a hit-and-miss dither. Some of it is quite brainy.

The Women (2008) * So consistently, outrageously wrongheaded in every way it’s hard to know where to start.